“Yeah, okay,” she said.
“I realize that you were looking forward to this camp.”
“Photo camp internship,” she corrected. “Yes, I was, and just like that it’s gone.”
“Circumstances require that we sometimes—”
“Yeah, I know, Mom, circumstances, right?” she interrupted.
“If you have something to say, Tamika, say it.”
“This internship was important to me, Mom. It was my chance to shine and to maybe get my work published. But instead I have to go someplace to clean out an old house. It’s not fair. But I’m sure you don’t understand that. How could you? You’re an adult.”
“Of course I understand that, Tamika. I was a teenager too at one time.”
“Could have fooled me. I wish for once you’d remember what it’s like to be sixteen.”
“Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.”
“Fine, I’d welcome it, a chance to be an adult, make my own decisions and follow my own rules.”
“It’s not as easy as it seems. Adults don’t have it any easier than teens. There were things that are important to me too but—”
“See, there you go. There’s always a but, an exception. This was important to me and you don’t even care.”
“Of course I care. It’s just that some priorities—”
“See, there you go. You don’t care.”
“As I was saying, some priorities take precedence over what we want, Tamika. It’s called growing up. As you get older and more mature you’ll realize that. At times you just have to step up and do what needs to be done even if it means doing what you don’t want to do.”
“So why can’t I stay here by myself, then?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
“Yes, fine, I messed up. It was a stupid decision that got out of hand, no big deal.”
“No big deal? It was irresponsible and reckless.”
“But still, that was a year ago. I was a kid and most of it wasn’t even my fault. And besides, the neighbors and the police overreacted anyway.”
“Tamika, the kitchen was on fire.”
“It was just the countertop.”
“And the floor and the table, two chairs and the refrigerator. I still have no idea how that could happen. I didn’t even know it was possible.”
“That could happen to anyone.”
“But it didn’t, it happened to you. And it wasn’t just the countertop, it was half the kitchen. I would know because we had to have it completely redone.”
“Fine, I can stay with Lisa until she leaves. You’ll be back by then.”
“Tamika, you were supposed to be staying with Lisa last year too, remember? I suppose that’s when the idea of having an unchaperoned party occurred to you.”
“It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”
“You invited over a hundred teenagers here. What exactly did you think was going to happen? I’m sorry, the answer is no.”
“Fine,” she said dryly.
“Attitude isn’t gonna make this trip any easier on either one of us, so you can drop it now.”
“What attitude?”
“That sulky attitude of yours.”
“I’m not sulkin’, I’m just tired. It was a long day.”
“Okay, fine, my mistake. But all I’m saying is that maybe we can use this time together to have fun, just the two of us. We haven’t done that in a long time. I know I’ve been busy with work and all, but now that I have the time we can use it to really enjoy ourselves.”
“Okay,” Tamika said.
“We’ll be leaving day after tomorrow so if you have things you need me to pick up let me know. I need to go shopping first thing tomorrow. I have a list started on the refrigerator, so add whatever you need.”
Tamika turned to the list, then nodded. “Okay.”
“All right, that’s it, good night.”
“Night,” Tamika said, then left. As soon as she went up to her bedroom and closed the door, her muted cell buzzed.
Lisa: (^_^)
Tamika: (^_^)/
Lisa: I went 2 Sean’s myspace
Tamika: ?
Lisa: He posted about 2nite
Tamika: ?
Lisa: About U
Tamika didn’t type anything right away. She just sat there trying to figure out what Sean wrote about her. Expecting the worst she turned on her laptop.
Tamika: me?
Lisa: check it out
Lisa ended the message. Tamika typed in her MySpace password, then went to Sean’s page. She was surprised; it was nicer than most, different. But then he was always a pseudo–computer geek. It was actually kinda tight. She scanned through, checking out what he said about her.
so I went to this party tonight. it was poppin’ and all and the music was a’ight. but the best part was that I got to reconnect with this girl I knew from way back. she was different but the same. she supposed to be with this guy but I don’t know about tonight. maybe they’re done. maybe not—either way it’s a’ight wit me. yeah. But she could do better. I should’ve gotten her digits. next time.
—Sean
After reading it Tamika smiled. She knew it was about her. So since her MySpace had her photo she opened another account with a picture of a star, then responded.
Yeah, you should have gotten her digits. next time.
Chapter 4
Laura
The Frasers lived in a quiet suburban neighborhood located just outside of Boston. Unfortunately the peace and quiet of Ambrosia Lane was exactly what she didn’t need right now.
Now two days later, on the morning they left for Fraser, the day had started off with drama. Packed and ready to go, Laura was in the car waiting for Tamika. She’d expected a full-scale rebellion and that’s exactly what she was getting. Subtle and clever, Tamika still got her message across. She was not happy.
She’d been waiting for fifteen minutes. She was just about to go back in the house when her cell rang. Scrambling through her purse, she answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, I just called to see if you were on the road yet,” Malcolm said.
“I’m outside the house waiting for your daughter. She’s been dragging all morning. You’d think she’d appreciate the beauty of the drive. But no, not her,” she said as she adjusted the cell phone to the other ear.
“Just give her time.”
“Easy for you to say,” she said.
“She’s out of school so you won’t be fighting over grades and schoolwork. This should be a breeze. She really wants to spend time with you.”
“Yeah, right. What world have you been living in for the past three years?”
“The two of you will hang out together like before.”
Laura just shook her head. Before was a long time ago. Then she’d take Tamika to the zoo, art museums and concerts and shopping in New York City. Now she wouldn’t even think about trying that.
“Well, at least you’ll have a break,” she said.
“Come on, Laura, let’s not start this again. This is necessary, right? You were gonna go down anyway. Taking Tamika is the logical thing to do.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just that she’s so sulky. I swear she’s driving me crazy,” Laura said. “I try to be nice but all I get is attitude.”
“Give her time,” Malcolm answered on automatic, having had this same conversation before.
“All I’m saying is that when I was a teen I was overjoyed to get away from home for a while, but no, not your daughter. Everything I do she does the exact opposite.”
“Laura, you know how Tamika is, she’s a teenager. You remember being a teenager. Our parents didn’t know anything either. As teens we were invincible and immortal. We knew it all. Now multiply that feeling by a million and you have today’s teenager. Compared to us at that age they’re far more mature. She’s doing what every teenager did since the beginning of time—being a teen
.”
“Yeah, I know. She’s spoiled, selfish and self-centered. I swear she only thinks about herself. She really needs to grow up. She’ll be going to college in two years and then what? She won’t even tie her shoestrings without me telling her to.”
“Maybe you need to give her more credit. She’ll step up when she needs to and you let her.”
“You keep saying that,” Laura remarked. “See, that’s why she’s like this. You baby her.”
“I baby her?” Malcolm exclaimed. “Me?”
“Yes, you. You give her everything she wants. No wonder she doesn’t want to go to Georgia with me. She knew that she could get away with anything she wanted staying here with you.”
“You know you tripping now, Laura. If anything you spoil her. You need to give her some slack.”
“How can I? See, look, I told her to be ready to leave an hour ago. We should have been on the road thirty minutes ago. I hope she’s not still in bed. Letting her hang out last night was a huge mistake. I told her to be home early and she came rolling in after midnight.”
“Laura, chill. Time isn’t cut in stone. You gotta relax. So what? You hit the road a few minutes later than you planned? So what? She hung out last night? She was only hanging out at the mall and movies with her friends.”
“The mall closes at nine,” she said.
“The movie theater closes late,” he said. “And I’m sure she’s on her way out right now.”
“She’s probably in there talking with Justin.”
“No, I think they broke up.”
“What? When?”
“A few days ago, I think. She didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“See, that’s why the two of you need to take this trip together. You need to reconnect again. She’s going to be going off to college in a couple of years and the two of you need this time. Think of it as the last hurrah before launching her into the real world.”
“College,” Laura droned. “Oh, don’t remind me.”
“I know, seems like she was just crawling around here in diapers.”
“What are we going to do when she’s gone?”
“Exactly what we’re doing now,” Malcolm said, then quickly changed the topic. “How’s the car rental?”
“Nice, very nice,” Laura said, smiling.
“What’d you get?”
“Something more suitable for the drive down,” she said, looking over the car approvingly.
“I still don’t see why you didn’t want to drive your minivan down there. It would have been roomier, more practical and so much easier than renting a car.”
“Maybe, but certainly not as much fun,” Laura said, smiling brighter as she continued to look over the newly polished fire-engine-red convertible Mustang.
“All right, listen. I gotta go,” he said as he nodded to his assistant standing at his open office doorway. “Have a good trip. Call me tonight.”
“Okay, bye.” Laura closed her phone, feeling the useless feeling again. “Figures.” She bemoaned another meaningless conversation with a husband who was more interested in straight lines on a blueprint than straightening out their marriage.
She loved Malcolm but somewhere along the line they just didn’t connect anymore and she’d stopped living and started merely existing. He was always nose-deep into job specs and cost projections. That’s all he did with occasional pit stops into their lives. At work all day, then working at home all night, he stayed immersed in a constant state of distraction. She just couldn’t compete anymore. She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to.
Their separation a year ago, although a wake-up call to problems, hadn’t really changed anything. The problems they had then still festered below the surface of silence now. She wasn’t happy and apparently he still didn’t get it.
So this was her life. At thirty-nine she was forever stuck in a never-ending cycle of family drama. She shuddered. Marriage wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Her parents had been happily married for over forty years. They worked together every day and barely had a cross word.
Her father died three years ago, then her mother a year later. She loved her parents and had a great relationship with her mother. They were best friends. Why couldn’t she have that kind of relationship with her daughter? Was that asking too much?
She needed a change and with or without Tamika with her this trip, she intended to do something to shake her life up.
Moments later, still distracted, Laura hadn’t noticed Tamika walk up to the car. The tension immediately rose. “You rented a car?” Tamika asked, surprised.
“Yes, like it?”
“A bright red convertible.”
“That’s right,” Laura said happily.
“What’s wrong with your minivan?”
Laura shrugged. “It’s too me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tamika asked as she tossed her small carry-on bag in the backseat, then opened the passenger side door and got in.
Laura smiled without answering. “So, hey, you ready for our adventure?”
“Not really,” Tamika said truthfully, sliding in beside her mother and checking out the dashboard gadgets.
“Oh, come on, you might just have some fun and even learn something in the process,” Laura said, deciding to try and charge a bit of excitement into the road trip.
“I doubt it,” Tamika mumbled.
Laura started the engine. It hummed, ready. “Ah, summer, sunshine and the open road. What could be better than that?” she said, then sighed as she pulled out of the driveway.
“Oh, I don’t know. How about staying at home chilling, maybe?”
Choosing to ignore her cynicism, Laura continued. “I went online and picked out some really nice places to stop and eat and a cool bed-and-breakfast.”
“A bed-and-breakfast for what?”
“We’re going to spend the night, unless of course you prefer to just stop on the side of the road and sleep in the car,” Laura said.
“No, but spend the night? Why can’t we just drive straight there and get it over with?”
“Because I have no intention of driving twenty-something hours straight,” she said.
“I can drive too,” Tamika said, for the first time excited about the possibility of being there.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not? I have my driver’s license, Mom. Remember, you cooked a celebration dinner the day I got it.”
“I know you have your license, Tamika, but this is highway driving. It’s not just running around the corner to grab a soda from the store or going to the mall with Lisa.”
“I’ve driven on a highway before, Mom. My driver’s ed instructor took us out. It was part of the curriculum. And then Dad let me drive on the parkway and highway.”
“That was driving around Boston. This is different.”
“Mom…”
“Tamika.”
“Fine,” Tamika said, knowing she wasn’t getting anywhere. “Okay, I get it. You don’t trust me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Tamika didn’t answer; instead she reached over and turned on the radio, then searched for something more to her liking. She found a station and turned the volume up loud.
Laura moaned and glanced over at Tamika.
Tamika looked away, then out the side window.
“Is she supposed to be singing?” Laura asked.
“Who?”
“Whoever that is on the radio,” Laura responded.
“You don’t know who that is?” Tamika asked.
“No. Is it the young girl that got the career-achievement award on the award show a month ago?”
“Which award show?”
“Oh, right. There were at least half a dozen music award shows on television last month. What were they, video awards, audio awards, rap awards, non-rap awards, I’m-out-of-jail awards, gold-teeth awards?”
“Very funny,” Tamika said sarcastically. “And FYI, gold teeth a
re out.”
Laura chuckled. “No, seriously, this girl won a career award after two or three albums. I think she was, like, nineteen or twenty years old. I mean, really, a lifetime-achievement award. Come on now.”
“See, there you go again, dissin’ my music. And by the way, they don’t make albums anymore. That’s old, old school.”
“Tamika, even you have to admit that’s ridiculous. Now, what was her name?”
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
Laura looked over to her daughter and smiled. Obviously that conversation wasn’t working. “Okay, fine, you can narrow it down by who’s not arrested or in jail this week.”
“Oh, please, like the people you listened to didn’t have drama in their lives. Don’t even let me have to bring up that I know you had a crush on Michael Jackson when you were growing up.” Laura didn’t rebut. “Uh-huh, that’s what I thought. You can’t answer that, can you? And you know that man’s drama.”
“Fine, granted, there’s drama in just about every generation of singers, okay?” Tamika nodded. “Good. Okay, so who is she?” Laura asked as the song started to go off.
“Dang, Mom, she’s, like, the biggest R & B singer out today. You seriously don’t know?”
Laura shook her head. “Never heard her before.”
“You really need to get out more.”
“Well, if she could actually sing and not holler and scream, then maybe I would have heard of her.”
“She’s not hollering.”
“Well, she certainly isn’t singing. Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, Regina Bell, Phyllis Hyman, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, they sang. I don’t know what this child calls herself doing but it certainly isn’t singing.”
“See, you always ridin’ my music.”
“I wasn’t putting your music down. I thought we were having an insightful, intelligent conversation.”
“No, you were telling me that my music was crap.”
“How in the world did you get that from what I said?”
“’Cause that’s what you said.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Never mind, whatever,” Tamika said abruptly, then turned off the radio, pulled out her earbuds and adjusted her music.
She Said, She Said Page 4